arXiv subjects

Yanhong Yao

Publications and source records attributed to Yanhong Yao.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Physical Implications and Updated Observational Constraints of the PAge-like Unified Dark Fluid Model

The standard paradigm of cosmology assumes two distinct dark components, namely dark matter and dark energy. However, the necessity of splitting the dark-side world into two sectors has not been experimentally or theoretically proven. Unified dark fluid models provide an alternative in which a single fluid accounts for both phenomena. It is shown in Wang et al. 2024 that a PAge-like unified dark fluid (PUDF) can explain both the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and late-universe data, with the fitting quality not much worse than the standard Lambda cold dark matter ($Λ$CDM) model. Using the Planck 2018 CMB, baryon acoustic oscillations measurement from the dark energy spectroscopic instrument (DESI) data release 2, dark energy survey 5-year supernova data, and cosmic-chronometer data, we update the constraints on PUDF and clarify its physical implications. We show that PUDF can reproduce the primary CMB anisotropies, the background expansion history, and linear growth that are very close to the $Λ$CDM prediction. Nevertheless, the combined datasets still favor $Λ$CDM, largely due to the significant tension between CMB and DESI + SNe data, which exceeds the $4σ$ level in PUDF and remains non-negligible in the $w$CDM framework. Using mock data generated from the Planck best-fit $Λ$CDM model, we find that PUDF and $Λ$CDM cannot be statistically distinguished, indicating that the precision of current data is insufficient to separate the two models. Overall, the apparent preference for $Λ$CDM may be driven by dataset inconsistencies rather than a genuine physical difference, leaving unified dark fluid models as viable alternatives within current observational limits.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2025

Key drivers of the preference for dynamic dark energy

Joint analysis of the baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) measurement by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) first data release, Type Ia supernovae (SNe) of the Dark Energy Survey Year 5 (DES5YR) release and cosmic microwave background (CMB) data favors a quintom-like dynamic dark energy model over the standard Lambda cold dark matter ($Λ$CDM) model at $3.9σ$ level (Adame et al. 2024). We confirm the previous finding in the literature that the preference for dynamic dark energy does not rely on the detailed modeling of CMB physics and remains at a similar significance level ($3.2σ$) when the full CMB likelihood is replaced by a CMB acoustic-oscillation angle ($θ_\star$) prior and a baryon abundance ($Ω_bh^2$) prior. The computationally efficient $θ_\star$ and $Ω_bh^2$ priors allow us to take a frequentist approach by comparing DES5YR SNe and DESI BAO with a large number ($\gtrsim 10^4$) of Planck-constrained $Λ$CDM simulations. We find that $\geq 3.2σ$ preference for dynamic dark energy is very rare (occurrence rate = $0.28\%$) in simulations. When we combine DESI BAO with SN simulations or combine DES5YR SNe with BAO simulations, the occurrence rate of $\geq 3.2σ$ preference for dynamic dark energy increases to $1.2\%$ and $4.8\%$, respectively. These results indicate an internal inconsistency, i.e., a significant tension between DESI BAO + DES5YR SNe and Planck-constrained $Λ$CDM models in both Bayesian and frequentist points of view. Although both DESI BAO and DES5YR SNe contribute to the preference for dynamic dark energy, the contribution from DES5YR SNe is more significant. In the frequentist point of view, even DES5YR SNe alone is in tension with Planck-constrained $Λ$CDM models, though in Bayesian point of view this tension is prior dependent and inconclusive.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

A PAge-like Unified Dark Fluid Model

The unified dark fluid model unifies dark matter and dark energy into a single component, providing an alternative and more concise framework for interpreting cosmological observations. We introduce a PAge-like Unified Dark Fluid (PUDF) model based on the PAge approximation (Huang 2020), which is parameterized by the age of the universe and an $η$ parameter indicating the deviation from Einstein-De Sitter Universe. The PUDF model shares many similar features of the standard Lambda cold dark matter ($Λ$CDM) model and can effectively describe the large-scale structure formation and late-time cosmic acceleration. We constrain the PUDF model with the Planck 2018 cosmic microwave background anisotropies, baryon acoustic oscillation measurements including those from the most recent DESI 2024, the Pantheon+ sample of Type Ia supernovae, and the Cosmic Chronometers compilation. Although the PUDF performs well in fitting all the cosmological datasets, the joint analysis of the data still favors the $Λ$CDM model over the PUDF model, according to the Bayesian evidence of model comparison.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Curvature perturbations from kinetic preheating after $α$-attractor inflation

Preheating at the end of inflation is a violent nonlinear process that efficiently transfers the energy of the inflaton to a second field, the preheat field. When the preheat field is light during inflation and its background value modulates the preheating process, the superhorizon isocurvature perturbations of the preheat field may be converted to curvature perturbations that leave an imprint on the cosmic microwave background and the large-scale structure of the universe. We use high-precision lattice simulations to study kinetic preheating after $α$-attractor inflation, a case where the effective mass of the preheat field is naturally suppressed during inflation. By comparing the expansion e-folds between different Hubble patches, we find that the conversion from isocurvature perturbations to curvature perturbations is very inefficient and can hardly be detected by cosmological observations.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2024

Observational constraints on phenomenological emergent dark energy and barotropic dark matter characterized by a constant equation of state parameter

We propose a new cosmological model that considers dark matter as a barotropic fluid with a constant equation of state parameter and interprets dark energy as the phenomenological emergent dark energy rather than a cosmological constant. This proposal is based on extensive research on the extended properties of dark matter in the context of a cosmological constant and the intriguing findings that have emerged from our exploration of dark matter properties within the context of PEDE in our previous studies. We then place constraints on this model in light of the Planck 2018 Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropies, baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements, the Pantheon compilation of Type Ia supernovae, a prior on $H_0$ that based on the latest local measurement by Riess et al., and the combination of KiDS and the VISTA Kilo-Degree Infrared Galaxy Survey (KiDS+VIKING-450). The results indicate a preference for a positive dark matter equation of state parameter at 68\% confidence level for CMB+BAO, CMB+BAO+Pantheon and CMB+BAO+Pantheon+$H_0$ datasets. Furthermore, the Hubble tension between all of the datasets we used with R22 is very close to those of the PEDE, and the $S_8$ tension between Planck 2018 and KiDS+VIKING-450 is reduced from 2.3$σ$ in the PEDE model to 0.4$σ$ in the new model. However, Bayesian evidence indicates that PEDE favors our new model with very strong evidence from all the datasets considered in this study. Consequently, we conclude that the PEDE+$w_{\rm dm}$ model is not a viable alternative to the PEDE model.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2020

Relieve the $H_0$ tension with a new coupled generalized three-form dark energy model

In this work we propose a new coupled generalized three-form dark energy model, in which dark energy are represented by a three-form field and other components are represented by ideal fluids. We first perform a dynamical analysis on the new model and obtain four fixed points, including a saddle point representing a radiation dominated Universe, a saddle point representing a matter dominated Universe, and two attractors representing two dark energy dominated Universes. We then use the observational data, including cosmic microwave background (CMB) data, baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) data, and Type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) data to constrain the model parameters of the coupled generalized three-form dark energy model. For comparison, we also consider the coupled three-form dark energy model, generalized three-form dark energy model, and $Λ$CDM model, we find that the coupled generalized three-form dark energy model is the only one model that can reduce the $H_0$ tension to a more acceptable level, with $H_0=70.1_{-1.5}^{+1.4}$ km/s/Mpc, which is consistent with R19 at $2.0σ$ confidence level. We also investigate the best-fit dynamical behavior of the coupled generalized three-form dark energy model, and show that our model is equivalent to a quintom dark energy model, in which dark energy, at early epoch, behaves like some form of early dark energy with a small positive equation of state.

astro-ph.CO↗